Corona virus is spread all over the world. Millions of people are infected. If all these corona viruses are stored in one place and their weight is known, then how much will it be? Scientists have found out the weight of all the corona viruses present in the world. This gives an idea of how much chemical or bacteria or virus would be needed to attack the whole world with some kind of biological weapon. Scientists told in their new study that it is between the weight of an apple to a newborn child.
Scientists from Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science have done this study. He has calculated this from the samples of corona virus infected people in the world. The corona virus has infected 10 lakh to 1 crore people on one occasion at any place during the time of epidemic. Accordingly, scientists have calculated the weight of the corona virus spread all over the world.
Ron Milo, professor in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science and senior researcher of this study, said that the weight of the corona virus spread all over the world can range from 0.1 to 10 kg. A low weight number does not mean that it is not dangerous.
Ron told that we are talking about the smallest weight of the virus. Viruses of even the least weight are enough to wreak havoc in the world. At present, more than 173 million people are infected all over the world due to Corona virus. Whereas, more than 37 lakh people have been killed. Ron explained how we did this calculation. He first calculated the rate of infection of the Kovid-19 virus on monkeys, that too at the time when he had the highest number of infections. That is, there were maximum corona virus particles in the body.
Ron and his team measured the amount of coronavirus in the lungs, tonsils, lymph nodes and digestive system. After this, he calculated the corona virus particles per gram of tissue. It was then compared to the weight of human tissue. Due to which the full weight of the corona virus particles spread in humans has come out. The low weight of the virus in it means that there were fewer corona cases at that time. The weight of 10 kg means when the corona virus was at its peak in the world.
Scientists Have Calculated The Weight of All The SARS-CoV-2 in The Worldhttps://t.co/jNzKIynWCi
— ScienceAlert (@ScienceAlert) June 9, 2021
In the previous calculation, the weight of a virus particle was 1 femtogram based on the diameter of the corona virus. Calculating the mass of each virus particle on the basis of its presence inside humans, it was coming between 1 microgram to 10 microgram. That is, when the corona virus was at its peak, it weighed 10 micrograms and when it was lowest it was 1 microgram. After subtracting these figures, the scientists calculated the average weight of all infected people around the world. After that, according to this figure, the weight of the corona virus was calculated.
Ron and his partner Sender told that we did not just do this thing. To check the accuracy of our data, we also calculated how many cells in the body are infected with the corona virus. How many viruses are present in a cell? After that their whole number is multiplied by 1 femtogram weight. This also confirmed our figures. Along with this it also came to know that how fast the corona virus spreads in our body.
Ron’s team also found out how many types of mutations a virus can do on average in a person’s body at a time. For this, the scientists looked at how many times a single nucleotide mutated. Then it was seen how many copies the virus makes in a human’s body. The number of copies and the number of mutations of the nucleotide were then multiplied together. Due to which how many times the virus mutates, it was known.
Ron and his team came to know from this process that the mutation of the virus is happening 0.1 to once in the body of a person infected with corona. This happens 4 to 5 days after infection. If a person remains ill for more than a month, then within a month the corona virus mutates inside the body about 3 times. Which shows the evolution rate of the corona virus.
Not only this, a lot of variation has also been seen in the particles of corona virus in the human body. Ron and his team observed that the corona virus mutates five to six times in a human’s body. This means that in the bodies of some seriously ill people, this change must have happened millions of times. Ron Milo said that I know that people who have less number of corona virus particles in their body, they infect fewer people. Or don’t.
Ron said that it is not necessary that the number of corona virus particles in the body of superspreaders is high. It depends on the variant of the virus, its potency and other biological factors. Sometimes people with less virus can also become superspreaders. There are social reasons behind this as well. For example, how many people does that person meet? Does he go to big meetings?
Ron Milo said that our research may help scientists around the world in investigations related to the corona virus. The report of our study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on June 3.
